Although the information given by Regis is scanty, we may deduce
from discographies online that these recordings, apart from
the live concert recordings of the Impromptus made in Sofia
in 1958, are the product of studio sessions in Moscow. Thus
they are dry, “Soviet mono” sound in 1957 and 1959
- pretty grim, for all Richter’s sovereign artistry. Richter
devotees will point to worse; given the pianist’s antipathy
to recording. Given his indifference to the technical aspects
of recorded sound we must be grateful for what we can get -
which is thin, clangourous and distorted at peak volumes. Ah
well.

This is the fourth bargain disc Regis has issued of Richter
playing Schubert and as a bonus to D.845 we have an assortment
of piano miniatures by Schubert and Beethoven. While this CD
might be the least satisfactory so far as sonics are concerned,
it is artistically indispensable if you respond to Richter’s
Olympian way with both composers. The harsh sound and Richter’s
attack combine to produce an unsettlingly aggressive but undeniably
exciting effect and underline Schubert’s kinship with
Beethoven in the sonata.

It is one of the most mercurial and even puzzling of Schubert’s
piano sonatas, embracing a kaleidoscopic range of disparate
moods. The first movement is very free, almost like a fantasy,
veering wildly from introspective lyricism to hurdy-gurdy rusticity
to grand, military gestures, to angry defiance in its obsessive
but constantly inventive return to that ostinato A minor theme,
here banged out to insistently by Richter. His fierce concentration
confers a unity of mood upon the work which eludes gentler exponents;
the classical restraint of Kempff is less appropriate to this
music. The great thumping, chordal ending to the Moderato is
thrilling. Yet Richter’s dynamism is balanced by his astonishing
fluency and poetic touch. The clarity and evenness his articulation
of the runs in the Andante are mesmerising; the Trio in the
third movement is the most tender of lullabies with exquisitely
graded dynamics; the Rondo a miracle of fleet grace.

His treatment of the lesser “morceaux” is no less
magnetic and absorbing. The one “Moment Musical”
is, by contrast with what has preceded it in this programme,
all restraint and understatement as if to underline the fact
that Richter is by no means all Sturm und Drang. The two Impromptus
are sheer digitised liquefaction.

The comparative melodic straightforwardness and rhythmic exuberance
of Beethoven’s “Bagatelles” adds again to
the balance and contrast of the programme.

The astounding range of moods and pianistic skills on show here
makes one regret afresh the inadequacy of the sound but this
is still a disc no true Richter fan will want to pass up.
Ralph Moore

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